


Special, like You

by Interverse



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: And Maybe Social Anxiety, Fluff, Gen, Tra la la- beware the writer who is bad at tagging, sans has depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-21 12:29:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17642825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Interverse/pseuds/Interverse
Summary: Birthdays. Some people see them as something to celebrate, while others see them as an unwelcome reminder that they're one year closer to death.Papyrus tries to change his brother's mind from the latter.





	Special, like You

“Hell yeah! I didn’t even burn my entire house down this time!”

 

Papyrus was concerned that Undyne considered that to be a large accomplishment, but he could at least agree that avoiding complete destruction was a good thing. They were slowly but surely improving, despite how much damage they did in the process. This time, the noodles were cooked quite well, though the sauce was overseasoned, as per usual. Strangely, whenever Papyrus cooked on his own time, it seemed… much, _much_ better. He was growing more and more convinced with each passing day that Undyne actually had no idea to cook, and was just pretending to have the knowledge to teach him. Even so, he still enjoyed their quote unquote _lessons_.

 

So, that was why he was quite unhappy that he was moping afterwards, when he should be happy that he had gotten to spend time with his friend. “Hey… uh, Papyrus? You seem kinda distracted over there,” Undyne commented.

 

Papyrus forced a smile. “Huh? Oh, no, I’m good.”

 

Undyne rolled her eye. “Cummon nerd, I’m not that stupid. What’s up?” She placed a scarily strong hand on his shoulder and gave it a little squeeze.

 

The skeleton sighed, sitting back in his seat. “It’s my brother’s birthday tomorrow.”

 

Undyne cocked her head. “Sans? Well, isn’t that a good thing, then?”

 

“It should be,” Papyrus muttered. “But it’s… not, really.” A smile flickered across his face. “I remember when I was little, my birthdays were _so_ special. Sans did everything that he could to make me feel like the most important monster in the world. He would do whatever I wanted, even if he hated it.” He flicked his eyelights downwards. “I… I wish I could make him feel like that, but his birthdays don’t seem to matter to him. He just says ‘it’s one more year out of the way’ and locks himself in his room all day.” He sighed before speaking again, voice soft. “I worry about him, you know? He’s never happy anymore.”

 

Undyne didn’t do anything for a while, then replaced the hand on his shoulder, the gentleness of the touch evident considering how rare it was for her. “Hey,” she started, “I… don’t know him that well, but I know that he cares about you. Heh, otherwise, I’d kick his ass.”

 

Papyrus allowed himself a small smile. “That is true.”

 

“But I get it,” Undyne continued with a sigh. “Sometimes I wish I could make Alphys happier. But… I know it isn’t my fault, at the end of the day.” She removed her hand, and silence filled the room for a few moments until she spoke again. “How old is he, anyway?”

 

“25,” Papyrus responded quietly. “Well, uh, for the rest of today, at least.”

 

Undyne walked around the table, and started to sit, but leapt to her feet again before she was even in the chair to begin with. “Wait!”

 

“What?” Papyrus inquired.

 

“I know the solution to your troubles!” Undyne exclaimed, turning to face him with her mouth stretched into a broad grin.

 

“Which is..?”

 

“We make Sans have a good birthday! We’ll kidnap him and tie him up if need be, but we will force him into happiness!”

 

Papyrus raised a browbone, then stood, smirking. “I like where this is going. Uh- aside from the kidnapping part, anyway.”

 

Undyne summoned a magical spear and pointed it at him. “Papyrus! I hereby demand that you tell me what gives your brother happiness!”

 

 _Sleep_ , or _ketchup_ , was the first thing to come to his mind, but he figured that wouldn’t really count. This was supposed to be special… at least enough to prove to Sans just how special _he_ was- to him, at least. “He likes… space,” Papyrus eventually said. “He loves the stars, and planets, and nebulae… basically, anything that has to do with space, he’s on it faster than he is the fridge in the middle of the night.”

 

Undyne hummed. “Well, if you have a spare human Soul lying around, we could take him up to the surface to see some, but I doubt that. We could take him to an Outer universe?”

 

Papyrus shook his head. “Sans… doesn’t really like dealing with people he doesn’t know well. He doesn’t talk about it, but I think it just gives him anxiety, so I don’t think that would be the best way to spend his birthday.”

 

Undyne nodded, and allowed the magic making up her spear to dematerialize before leaning against the table. “Well,” she said with a sigh, “I guess that means our only option is to go to Waterfall to see the starstones.”

 

“But he could see those at any time he wanted,” Papyrus reasoned with a grimace.

 

Sure, the gemstones lodged in the roof of the cavern were easily the most beautiful thing to see in the Underground, but their breathtaking qualities faded over time. But…

 

“Wait!” Papyrus gasped, the enthusiasm returning to his joints. “What if we got him a telescope? I’m sure the starstones look much different up close, and you’d be able to see the smaller ones better!”

 

Undyne grinned her trademark grin of sharp yellow teeth. “That sounds perfect! But, uh… aren’t telescopes, like, hella expensive?”

 

Papyrus grunted in affirmation. “Yeah, if it’s a good quality one.”

 

Undyne pressed her lips together. “You know, I’ve always sucked at handling my money.”

 

“What?” Papyrus questioned.

 

“I’ve always sucked at handling my money, because I’m going to help your brother get this telescope, no matter what. I’ll split the cost with you, or hell, even pay for all of it.”

 

Papyrus couldn’t help himself, he stepped forward and swept his friend into a hug, burrowing his face into the crook of her neck and rocking her back and forth on her feet. “U-Undyne... that’s so sweet of you-!”

 

“Uhh…” Undyne awkwardly patted his back, then chuckled and gently pushed him off. “Sure, but there’s no time for any sappy crap if we wanna prepare in time!”

 

Papyrus smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. I just like hugs!”

 

“I can tell.”

 

The two of them set off in the next few minutes after that, eager to start. Papyrus cringed at the prices of the telescopes, but it could have been worse, and when they both pitched in, it was nothing to cry over. The next order of business was finding a location to put it. If they were idiots, which they liked to believe they weren’t, they would casually leave the thing there overnight to be stolen. Since that wasn’t going to happen, they were faced with a problem once they came across a cliff covered in soft grass with a perfect view of the cavern’s ceiling.

 

“So… how can we make sure that nobody’ll be here tomorrow when we try and bring Sans here?” Papyrus inquired.

 

Undyne scrunched her face up in thought, then seemingly reached a conclusion with a shrug. “I’ll just mark the area as private property.”

 

Papyrus cocked a browbone. “You can do that?”

 

“I’m the Captain!” Undyne said with a sharp bark of laughter. “I can do whatever the hell I want, as long as it’s not something horrendously illegal or sadistic!”

 

She pulled her phone from her pocket, then placed it to her ear after dialing. “Hey, 01, if you’ll stop making out with 02 for a few, I’d appreciate it if you’d come and close an area off.” Papyrus shifted in excitement while she listened to the reply. “Yeah right, I’ll believe it when I see it. But yeah, I’ll text you the coordinates in a sec. Later.”

 

She tucked her phone back away after doing just that, then cracked her knuckles and placed her hands on her hips. “So, what’s next? I assume we’re going to do more than just shove a telescope in his face.”

 

Papyrus nodded. “We’ll definitely need to bring some chairs out here, and also a grill. I want to try and make him what he’s always drooling over at Grillby’s.” He shivered at the thought of the questionable quality of the food. An amount of grease that high couldn’t _possibly_ be good for you, could it? He sought to improve on that point.

 

Undyne nodded. “Aight. Do you have a grill, though?”

 

Well that put a wrench in his plans. “Uhh…”

 

Undyne’s seemingly endless pool of resources saved them again when she made a few calls and got them a borrowed grill within the next hour. Being friends with the Captain of the Royal Guard really had its perks. The fish monster had to cop out after that, wishing them luck and, much to Papyrus’ disappointment, saying that she probably shouldn’t come to their little birthday blowout. It was probably for the best, though. It would only stress Sans out to have such a strong character around for a prolonged period of time.

 

Luckily for both of the skeleton brothers, Papyrus had already been practicing his skills with burgers and the obvious accessory of fries for a while, but hadn’t shared any with Sans yet. He wanted them to be perfect, so he could only hope his experience would serve him well.

 

He slept restlessly that night, equally excited and nervous for what was to come. In the morning, he took advantage of his brother’s love of sleeping well into the afternoon to get things set up. Undyne helped him drag the grill, telescope, chairs, and a cooler full of consumables up to the spot they had picked out - which had indeed been marked as private property. Lastly, Papyrus pulled out a pad of paper and a pen, and thought. He could write a sweet message… perhaps make a cute little drawing… but none of that compared to the third option. He wrote a few words down, shamefully giggling when he was done and taping it to the end of the telescope so that it was all Sans would see when he looked through it.

 

“Alright,” Papyrus said with a breath, turning towards his friend. “Can you guard this stuff while I go get Sans? I’m sure he’s awake by now.”

 

Undyne responded with a thumbs up, so Papyrus dashed off back home as fast as his legs could carry him - which was certainly much quicker than the ferry could have gotten him there. He practically kicked the door down once he had reached his house in Snowdin, stepping inside and allowing him a minute to catch his breath before looking for his brother. He found him raiding the fridge, so he ran up to him and slammed it shut perhaps a little too aggressively, earning a startled yelp from the other skeleton.

 

Sans was quick to recover, taking on his usual lax stance and chuckling lowly. “Wow, bro, that was pretty _cold_ of you.”

 

While cheap puns like that normally annoyed him, Papyrus just brushed this one off. Anything to make his brother happy. “Sorry, Sans!” he chirped. “But I can’t have you filling up already. There’s a new place that just opened in Waterfall that I think you might like.”

 

Sans shrugged, the bags under his eyes seeming bigger than normal. “I dunno, Pap. I was kinda just… gonna lay around today, you know?”

 

Papyrus smiled gently. “I know. But-!” he added, “As you know, it’s your birthday, so I feel that we should to something.”

 

Sans rubbed at one of his eyesockets. “Papyrus… birthdays… mine, at least… don’t really matter.”

 

Papyrus bent over a small bit so that they were at eye level. “They matter to me, Sans. And hey, the restaurant has really good reviews; it was compared to Grillby’s. I’ll get you anything you want from the menu.” He wasn’t lying. “And we don’t have to tell anyone it’s your birthday. It’ll be our little secret.” He winked.

 

Sans sighed. “Pap-”

 

“For me?” Papyrus pleaded softly. “I’ll carry you there. The entire way. You won’t have to walk a single step, or deal with the ferry.” He leaned forward and gently kissed his brother’s forehead. “Please?”

 

A small smile formed on the smaller skeleton’s face. “...Alright.”

 

Papyrus stood to his full height and clapped his hands in excitement. “Okay! Let’s go, then!”

 

“Wait-” Sans interjected, “Don’t I need to change?”

 

“Do you want to?” Papyrus prompted.

 

“Uh… not really…”

 

“Then don’t!”

 

Papyrus helped his brother hop up onto his back, smiling at the memories of when he was small enough to be carried, and set off. Once he entered Waterfall, he veered off of the path and towards the cliff. “Uh… is this restaurant in the middle of a pond or something?” Sans asked skeptically.

 

“Huh? Oh uh, it prides itself on being… _homey_ , so it’s off the beaten path.” He cringed at his lame excuse.

 

Once they were close enough to see the cliff, Papyrus spoke the signal he had agreed upon with Undyne to prompt her to remove the private property sign and get out of sight. “Hey Sans, have you ever wondered what it’d be like to burn to death?” Undyne had some very interesting ideas.

 

His brother took a while to respond. “Yeah, actually.”

 

Papyrus didn’t have very much time to be concerned before he rounded a corner and found himself on the cliff. “Here we are.”

 

Sans hopped down and glanced around. “Uhh… you sure?”

 

“Yes,” Papyrus said. “It’s not actually a restaurant, but there is food, and a chef, so I figured that it was close enough.”

 

Sans was silent for a while. “Is that… a telescope..?”

 

Papyrus nodded. “Mhm. I can’t exactly take you to see the real stars, but I wanted to give you the next best thing. I hope-”

 

He was cut off by the feeling of a pair of arms winding around his ribcage and a face burying itself in his sternum. Sans sniffled into his shirt. “Bro… y-you did all this for me?”

 

Papyrus returned the hug, feeling as if his face might split in half if he smiled any wider. “Yes.”

 

He looked over his brother’s shoulder to see Undyne hiding in the bushes. He risked it, and smiled even more broadly at her, mouthing ‘ _thank you_ ’ along the way. She returned his smile and gave him a thumbs up before disappearing into the darkness of Waterfall.

 

Sans finally wiggled free of the other skeleton’s hold after what felt like years, chuckling to himself and reaching up to swipe at the cornflower blue tears that were leaking form his sockets. Papyrus stopped him, leaning down and kissing them away instead. Sans sniffled, and when Papyrus pulled away, he was smiling through his tears. “But… why, Pap?” he asked quietly. “Why did you want to do all this?”

 

“Because,” Papyrus murmured, placing a large gloved hand on his brother’s shoulder, “I wanted today to be special, like you.”

 

Sans looked as if he was about to burst into tears again, though his expression hadn’t shifted. “Pap-” His voice cracked.

 

Papyrus swept him into another hug and allowed his brother to cry into his shoulder. While tears weren’t normally associated with anything good, in this instance, they were. Sans rarely expressed his emotions honestly anymore, so it was good to see him opening up.

 

“Shall we take a look at the stars?” Papyrus asked once Sans had finally managed to calm himself down and step away from the hug.

 

Sans nodded, clasping his hands in front of himself like a shy little babybones. “Y-Yeah.”

 

They walked up to the telescope, and Sans excitedly put one of his eyesockets up to one end of it, then stepped back and burst into laughter. “Papyrus- what?!”

 

The skeleton giggled and removed the paper that he had left for Sans to find. He had written ‘ _You’re my star, Sans_ ’ on it and decorated it with a spattering of just that. “I thought that one might get you.” He held the paper out and wiggled it. “But I mean it. I love you, Sans.”

 

Sans’ cheeks flushed blue. “I… I love you too, Pap.”

**Author's Note:**

> Wowie look at that, I didn't write a ship fic for the first time in my entire life.


End file.
